UEFA: sustainability cooperation agreement with the Japanese Football Association

UEFA and the Japan Football Association (JFA) have signed a sustainability cooperation agreement, the European confederation announced on 20 May 2026.

As part of the agreement, UEFA "will share knowledge and expertise" to support the Japanese federation’s Asu-Pass! initiative. The JFA is a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), with which UEFA signed a strategic partnership in February 2026, mainly focused on refereeing cooperation.

This collaboration aims to allow the JFA to "leverage European football’s best practices to strengthen their social and environmental efforts," while sharing guidance with its 47 regional associations, partners and the wider football community in Japan.

The agreement comes as the Japanese federation has made sustainability one of the pillars of its 2026-2031 growth strategy, through its Asu-Pass! social action programme structured around five key areas: "planet, people, well-being, education and community."

Among the initiatives planned as part of the cooperation between UEFA and the federation are "the identification of key performance…